How this woman's Apple Watch detected her severe thyroid issue
"It's the first time ever I鈥檝e heard someone tell me they didn鈥檛 notice anything and were later diagnosed with severe hyperthyroidism"
"It's the first time ever I鈥檝e heard someone tell me they didn鈥檛 notice anything and were later diagnosed with severe hyperthyroidism"
"It's the first time ever I鈥檝e heard someone tell me they didn鈥檛 notice anything and were later diagnosed with severe hyperthyroidism"
Heather Hendershot鈥檚 new Apple Watch started to beep one night when she was watching TV with her husband. The watch warned her that her heart rate was around 120 beats per minute 鈥� above normal for a 25-year-old who's just hanging out, she told .
The watch continued beeping every 10 minutes, warning Hendershot that something was off. At first, Hendershot says she thought the watch was just being funky, but when she timed her heartbeats herself, she saw that it was accurate.
According to the watch, her heartbeat got up to 160 beats per minute that night. So, the next day, Hendershot and her freaked-out husband went to an urgent-care clinic.
鈥淚 thought I might be sick and my body was just fighting infection, but my husband is a worrywart,鈥� she said.
Urgent care sent her to the local emergency room where blood tests found Hendershot actually had moderate to severe hyperthyroidism. This happens when your thyroid sends too much of the hormone thyroxine into your bloodstream.
According to the , anyone can have an overactive thyroid, but it is much more common in women than men. It tends to run in families and causes complications between the ages of 20 and 40.
The condition can speed up someone鈥檚 metabolism, and cause sudden weight loss, an irregular heartbeat, sweating, nervousness or irritability.
How did Hendershot never notice any of these symptoms before? Even her doctor told The Topeka Capital-Journal that her case was pretty bizarre.
"My reaction was to smile at her and pause. I asked her twice at first and a third time later, 'Wait a minute, you didn鈥檛 feel anything?'" said endocrinologist Alan Wynne.
"I鈥檝e been doing this 25 years and it鈥檚 the first time ever I鈥檝e heard someone tell me they didn鈥檛 notice anything and were later diagnosed with severe hyperthyroidism."
Hendershot now says she鈥檚 pretty thankful for that Apple Watch, 鈥淚f I hadn鈥檛 been wearing it, I wouldn鈥檛 have known anything was wrong,鈥� she said.